Another Day In This House
by Tuesday People
Summary: Anna is serving a long, hefty sentence in a notorious American prison. Roughly three years in, she befriends Elsa, a woman full of secrets. Elsa/Anna, non-incest, no powers, AU.


**Chapter One:**

The decision to end _his_ life bulldozed to the forefront of her mind as soon as she felt his hands tighten around her throat. He angled his thumbs towards the base of her neck and pressed down firmly. Stars burst behind her eyes. She threw her hands towards him; her fists collided with the side of his head and the tops of his arms with an unsatisfying thump. Undeterred and desperate to escape, she tried again. It was useless. He tensed his grip and she immediately opened her mouth to suck in as much oxygen as possible. She was rapidly falling weak under his touch. He snickered obscenely.

"I'm going to miss you," he spat unceremoniously; his eyes alight with a fire that she'd seen him possess many times before. "But I guess there are plenty of other whores that I can replace you with."

As his hands continued to tighten around her throat, her heavy limbs fell to either side of her dying body with a dull thud. His laughter soon perished when he realised that his "game" was rapidly coming to an end and he immediately retracted his grip. Suddenly oxygen pooled unexpectedly into her lungs and she immediately spluttered.

She moved to rub her injured throat but he quickly batted away her hands with a disapproving click of his tongue. She forced her eyes upon him and glowered as her hands reluctantly returned to their previous position by her sides. That's when she felt it – the ornament that her mother had given her two Christmases ago. It was a wooden cat, roughly six inches tall and substantially heavy. She curled her fingers around the base of the sculpture while her eyes remained trained on him.

He moved closer as he leered at her tear-stricken face, acting as if it was something to be proud of, when suddenly his lips were upon hers. She quickly grabbed the ornament and swung her arm inwards, a resounding crunch filling the room as the object collided with the side of his skull. He cried out loud but the sound did not deter her. Instead, she swung again, her blows meeting little resistance as they continued to rain down on his now bleeding body. He groaned loudly as his body collapsed on top of her tired frame.

With adrenaline coursing through her veins, she gave his body a firm shove and he rolled over onto his back. She immediately threw herself on top of him, her legs falling to either side of his hips. She lifted the ornament above her head as if it was some sort of trophy but just as she was about to bring it down on him again, his eyelids fluttered open.

"I will always win."

/

The screeching sound of metal being pulled together caused Anna to jolt awake. She tugged back her bedcovers slightly and peered around her room through bleary, sleep-encrusted eyes. The bedroom window was to her right and when she looked through it, she could just about see the sun beginning to make its appearance over a hillside in the distance. With a heavy groan, she yanked her bedcovers back over her face and closed her eyes, hoping to catch a few more minutes sleep before she was summoned for the day.

Just as Anna began to drift back off to sleep, the bed above her creaked noisily when her roommate changed position. She must've had a similar train of thought as Anna because the noise was soon followed with a loud groan of annoyance. Knowing that there was no longer any use in even trying to catch a few more minutes of shut eye, Anna rolled her eyes and flung back the covers, just as her roommate jumped down from her top bunk bed.

She sucked her lower lip between her teeth and chewed silently as her gaze followed the path of the other woman. The woman was tall and slender, with thick brown locks, which were currently piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Anna watched as the woman wordlessly stretched and then turned to pull down her grey jogging bottoms. Sensing that she was being watched, the dark-haired woman snapped her gaze towards Anna and scowled deeply.

"Do you like watching other people piss?" she asked distastefully, as she sat down on the toilet in the corner of the room.

Anna turned her eyes away and jerked her head in a 'no'. She waited until the other woman was finished using the toilet before she too clambered out of bed.

"Somebody is in a bad mood, are you on your period?" Anna quipped, earning another stern look from the brunette.

"Shut up, Freckles."

"I will take that as a yes, Belle."

Anna approached the mirror on the far side of the room and grimaced at the state of her hair. Unlike Belle, who always seemed to wake up with _okay_ hair, Anna seemed to be incapable. In fact, the morning after their first night together, Belle had made a comment about how Anna's hair looked like tumble-weed, and to this day it was still the same.

She scraped her hair back into a high ponytail and crouched down to retrieve her towel and hair products from underneath her bed. She then rose to her feet and walked to stand beside Belle, who was propped up against a wall beside a huge steel door.

"Joking aside, are you alright?"

Belle grunted in a non-committal way, which Anna knew to be a sign that she didn't want to talk. Instead, she held her belongings against her chest and rocked back and fro on her feet, the room swamped in silence. Another five minutes passed before the door opened to one side, revealing a large bulk of a man. The man was very tall, with thickset shoulders and a broad smile. Kristoff was his name. He nodded a hello to both women, smiling briefly as he stepped to one side to allow them both to step outside. He watched quietly as they both scurried away, their heads bowed towards the floor.

They walked side by side along the length of the corridor until they reached the end, where they turned right and entered a large wet room. The room was already busy with women getting washed and dressed for the day, so it was difficult for Anna to find an unoccupied shower. She knew from experience just how important it was not to jump into somebody else's stream of water, even if by accident.

Anna loitered beside the benches until a shower became available and when it did, she quickly stripped away her clothes. A loud hiss tore from her lips when she stepped underneath the cool water, realising too late that there was no hot water left. She reached into her unruly hair and retrieved her hair tie, grumbling audibly as her hair pulled and snagged.

"You like your hair being pulled, love?"

The words provoked a frown from Anna, who turned to look at the woman beside her in disbelief. In any other situation _outside_ of prison, Anna would have probably found the question amusing but unfortunately she _was_ in prison, currently surrounded by roughly fifty or so criminally deranged naked women (the woman in question included), so she didn't appreciate the sexual insinuations.

"What's it to you?" Anna bit back.

The woman arched her brow quizzically, surprised that somebody as small and delicate, and _innocent _looking, such as Anna, could possess such a feisty spark. She shouldn't have been surprised though, after all, they were both currently stood in a wet room inside one of America's most notorious prisons.

"I will make it my business if needs be," the woman grumbled, narrowing her eyes at Anna, who merely straightened her back in response, seemingly unfazed. "Watch your mouth, bitch."

When the woman walked away, Anna slumped forward and exhaled shakily. When she first entered prison, she was very shy and timid, and most of the other women frequently used this to their advantage. Over the years, she'd hardened into the woman that she was today, or so it seemed. Anna still got scared and nervous, especially when she was thrown into a situation like the one she'd just escaped from, but at least now she could conjure up a face that made people believe that she was the person she seemed to be.

She hurriedly finished her shower, pulled on the clothes she'd walked to the wet room in and then rushed back to her unlocked cell, which she was pleased to find empty. Knowing that Belle would probably take a while since she had a habit of spatting with the other inmates, Anna decided to take her time getting ready.

She reached underneath her bed and retrieved a clean set of clothes. It was the same every day: plain and boring (yet unusually comfortable) grey jogging bottoms and a white loose t-shirt. She replaced her current outfit with the clean one and then sat down on the edge of her bed to slip on her shoes. Once dressed, she grabbed a hair-brush and pushed it through her locks. Once brushed, she quickly set to work to pulling the red strands into two separate braids – her trademark look. Just as she finished, Belle swept into the room and deposited her belongings on the top bunk.

"Guards are calling for breakfast, are you ready?"

"As ready as ever," Anna said over enthusiastically, "Let's go. Oh, I wonder if they'll have chocolate."

Belle threw her a look, "When do they _ever_ have chocolate?"

/

By the time Anna reached the front of the queue in the canteen, it felt as if she'd been queuing for days. At least, that's what her stomach was telling her anyway. She dropped her tray down in front of the servers and waited patiently for her breakfast to be dished up. Meanwhile, Anna stared across the canteen to make sure that nobody was sat at the table that she and her friends occupied every single mealtime. _Empty, good_…

Anna grabbed her now full tray and walked to the table in question. She was soon joined by Belle, followed closely behind by another fellow red-head called Ariel.

"Have you seen the newbies?" Ariel hushed from behind her buttered bread as she jerked her head towards the far side of the room.

All three heads turned to where Ariel had motioned to, Anna noticed the new people straight away. She fell back into her seat and nodded enthusiastically, her face cracking into a smile.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" she asked excitedly.

Whenever somebody new entered the prison, Anna and her friends enjoyed playing a little game of "What are they in for?" Each person would take a turn suggesting what they think could be the reason as to why they were thrown into prison and if/when they found out the real reason, well, the person who got it right, won. Usually they won a cigarette or two, or maybe an extra pudding at dinnertime. It wasn't exactly a million dollar prize but anything extra was a bonus when you were in prison.

"The big one on the right – the one with the short hair – yeah, she's definitely in for swindling money," Belle piped up confidently.

Anna nodded along, "I bet. Uh, I reckon _that one-_" she pointed at a runty looking woman with short black hair, "-murder, maybe manslaught-"

"Woah, woah, _woah," _Ariel interrupted suddenly, "She is _hot._"

"The black haired woman? I don't really like short hair, to be honest," Anna said matter-of-factly. "I don't even know why, I just think that-"

"Anna, shut your trap," Belle snapped, "She means _her._"

As soon as Anna turned her head, she knew exactly who they'd been referring to. Anna had never seen anyone like her. The woman was tall and slim, with beautiful blond hair, which was tied neatly into a braid over her right shoulder. It was clear that she was anxious from the way she nervously played with the tips of her hair and how her eyes darted desperately around the room, undoubtedly unsure of where to go or what to do. Anna's heart panged sympathetically.

"She looks lost," Anna murmured sympathetically as she thought back to her very first day in prison. "Don't you think?"

Belle scoffed loudly, "Oh here we go. Mother Anna is back."

"I knew it was only a matter of time," Ariel finished.

She ignored her friends in favour of the blond beauty across the room. She was still on her feet, her arms wrapped protectively around her waist. Anna wanted to say something, perhaps wave her over to their table, _anything_ to make her feel better. But suddenly a woman stepped into her line of sight and it took Anna a few seconds to realise that it was the woman from the shower earlier.

She watched anxiously as the woman stepped too close and attempted to place a hand on the blondes' hip. Anna curled her fingers into her palm and squirmed nervously. The blond was clearly distressed over the unwanted attention and Anna _really _wanted to help but she knew she couldn't rush over, guns loaded, except Anna wasn't well known for her ability to hold back when it came to helping out a friend, or even a stranger.

When the blond curled away from the other woman, Anna snapped and immediately jumped to her feet, much to the amusement of Ariel and Belle.

"Hey, hey, _hey_, back off right now," Anna ordered as soon as she reached the blond and the harasser. "Do you like annoying people or something?"

As soon as Anna saw the look on the woman's face, she immediately regretted her decision to get involved. It took all of her strength not to run all the way back to her cell and dive underneath her bed covers, which is exactly what she wanted to do at that very moment. But one look at the blondes face and the grateful expression that it possessed, Anna felt awash with confidence.

Well, until two other big, burly women stepped towards her. Anna's stomach dropped.

"Oh fuck."

/

To be continued.


End file.
